Irish Trojan in Tennessee

New Bin Laden video for 9/11?

By Brendan Loy

So says ABC News and the AP: "Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden plans a new video addressing the American people regarding the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, terror monitoring groups said Thursday."

Also, it seems that Bin Laden has dyed his beard.

Where's Waldo Mitt?

By Brendan Loy

This is neat: I just got an e-mail about a website called Map the Candidates, which has created a Google Maps "mashup" to track where the presidential candidates are campaigning, what happened at their events, etc. They're integrating YouTube clips, local media coverage, etc. A cool idea, says I.

Tee hee

By Brendan Loy

If you haven't seen Team America, you won't get it. If you have... enjoy:

Heh. That movie is really good, by the way. (The Bourne Ultimatum, I mean. Though Team America is good, too. Heh.)

Felix hit Puerto Cabezas hard

By Brendan Loy

I've updated my Hurricane Felix wrap-up on Pajamas Media to reflect the worse-than-I-expected destruction in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, reported today by Dr. Jeff Masters:

Nearly every structure in Puerto Cabezas sustained at least roof damage, and many buildings were destroyed. Along the Moskito Coast of northeast Nicaragua, flooding and mudslides were reported, destroying many homes and blocking highways. The Government of Nicaragua declared the northern Caribbean coast a disaster area. At least 39 people have been reported dead—38 of them in Nicaragua, and one in Honduras (in a motor vehicle accident caused by heavy rain and landslides). However, dozens are missing (mostly at sea), and communications are difficult to impossible in many areas. At least 40,000 people have been affected and 9,000 houses destroyed, most of them in…Puerto Cabezas.

I'm not sure how to square that with this NOAA map, which shows the purported weakness of Felix's wind field on the south side, where Puerto Cabezas was:

The city is, according to Yahoo Maps, located near where the number "50" appears in the greenish-colored area on the south side of the storm. That means it should have experienced sustained winds on the borderline of gale force (58+ mph), but not hurricane force (74+ mph) except in gusts. Yet it sounds like the damage was indicative of widespread hurricane-force winds. Perhaps the NOAA map was in error... or perhaps the buildings there are just really poorly constructed. I dunno.

Flight of the nukes

By Joe Loy

Numerous overlapping investigations :> are being (you should pardon the expression)  Launched concerning exactly how it came to pass that  (emphases mine; internal links the WashPost's) ~

An Air Force B-52 bomber flew across the central United States last week with six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads that were mistakenly attached to the airplane's wing...

The Stratofortress bomber, based at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, was transporting a dozen Advanced Cruise Missiles to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Aug. 30. But crews inadvertently loaded half of them with nuclear warheads attached.

Air Force officials said the warheads were not activated and at no time posed a threat to the public. But a timeline of the episode supplied by the Air Force yesterday to House and Senate lawmakers indicated that the missiles in question sat on a runway in Louisiana for nearly 10 hours before workers noticed that the nuclear warheads were inside.

Military officials also said they were concerned that the warheads were unaccounted for several hours while the missiles were in transit. The missiles never left Air Force control, they said.

Well,  it's reassuring to learn that the Boomers weren't actually "activated" (though I think we might Know it if they Were ~ well, Some of us might, anyway...)  and that their Control wasn't inadvertently transferred to the Shriners or somebody. :|  But to resume:

Two defense officials said it is unclear how stringent safeguards for the handling of nuclear weapons were skirted...Air Force officials said the mistake was a serious breach of rules and that an investigation began immediately.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the panel's ranking Republican...requested an investigation of the incident by the Pentagon's inspector general.

The aircraft's pilots and other crew members were unaware that they were carrying nuclear warheads, officials said. "Essentially, this is an issue of a departure from our very exacting standards," said Lt. Col. Edward Thomas, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon, who declined to confirm that nuclear warheads were involved. "The Air Force maintains the highest standards of safety and precision, so any deviation from these well-established munitions procedures is very serious, and we are responding swiftly."

(Continues after the Drop Jump :)

Congressional candidates nominated

By Joe Loy

Niki Tsongas, widow of the late great U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas, has won the Democratic primary in Massachusetts CD 5, for the special election to fill the House seat which Marty Meehan vacated to become chancellor of UMass Lowell.  Jim Ogonowski won the Republican primary, and will wage the uphill battle against the popular Democrat with the married name that's magic in the Merrimack Valley ~ perhaps in hopes that enough of the voters who attend his rallies out of Curiousity to See one of these rare Republicans :}  will end up Converting to his cause ;>.  Several other candidates are also running, including a bricklayer from Lowell named Patrick Murphy, concerning whom I believe I have a Folksong but nevermind about that now :].

Congressman dies

By JLR

Congressman Paul Gillmor (R-OH-5) was found dead in his home yesterday morning.  Though he maintained a low profile during his 10 terms in office, he was known as a good man and a "decent lawmaker."

More on Congressman Gillmor here and here.

Thompson finally announces

By Brendan Loy

Apparently some guy named Fred Thompson is running for president. Who knew?

Blame Canada the airport

By Brendan Loy

Heh:

Supporters of Sen. Larry Craig with the American Land Rights Association are calling for a boycott of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport. ...

The association says the airport should apologize to Craig for what it calls "ambushing" the senator.

Commentary would be superfluous.

Pavarotti dies

By Brendan Loy

Luciano Pavarotti is dead. He was 71.